How About an Honest Discussion on Global Economics?

July 12, 2010

There is no shortage of disastrous behaviors in Obama’s District of Corruption today, but among the most fatal practices is that of refusing to discuss our many challenges in an open, honest and forthright manner.

One of the most dangerous patterns in American politics today is the practice of allowing political ambitions to drive the facts, instead of allowing the facts to drive policy decisions. Nowhere is that more evident than in the insane discussion concerning very serious global economic conditions and the right medicine for those international ills.

Despite seventy years of Democrat efforts to destroy the U.S. free-market economy, the United States of America remains the most productive, prosperous and generous nation anywhere on earth, which is to say economically speaking, we are doing things much better than any other nation and should be leading the international community toward free-market capitalism instead of following Europe into bankruptcy via some version of Marxism or Socialism. However, Democrats seem quite determined to follow Marxist principles by way of Alinsky Rules, even though nobody in the recent G20 meetings was ready to march along with Obama.

The U.S. remains by far the largest economy on earth with a $14.5 Trillion GDP. Americans remain the most productive people on earth with a per capita GDP of $46,400. We have one of the highest per capita personal incomes in the world at $37,500 (80.8% of PGDP). However:

Our federal budget is approximately 25.2% of GDP. The federal tax rate is 28.2% of GDP - and we are still running red ink well into the future. And our federal debt will 97% of GDP by end of 2010, not counting interest or unfunded Obama promises, an increase of 40% since Obama took office less than two years ago.

The good news is - Americans are still very productive and prosperous despite the fact that our federal government is suffocating that private sector productivity to death with excessive spending and increasing government intrusion into the free-market.

The bad news is – Obama is not leading anyone towards the principles and values that made America the most powerful nation on earth. Instead, he is leading America toward utter destruction on the pathway of European economics.

So now we must take a close look at how our friends abroad compare to the good ole USA, in economic terms.

The UK Facts

The UK is only a $2.2 trillion economy (1/6th the size of the USA)

Per capita productivity is $35,200 compared $46,400 in the USA

Per capita income is $27,650 compared to $37,500 in the USA

The UK national budget is 51% of GDP compared to 25.2% in the USA

The UK tax rate is 39% of GDP – compared to 28.2% in the USA

UK debt is 68.5% of GDP – compared to the USA at 97% of GDP

Canadian Facts

Canada has only a $1.33 trillion economy – 70% of it exported to the USA

Per capita productivity is $38,440 compared $46,400 in the USA

Per capita income is $29,740 compared to $37,500 in the USA

The national budget is 41.1% of GDP compared to 25.2% in the USA

The tax rate is 33.4% of GDP – compared to 28.2% in the USA

Debt is 72.3% of GDP – compared to the USA at 97% of GDP

French Facts

France has only a $2.66 trillion economy

Per capita productivity is $32,800 compared $46,400 in the USA

Per capita income is $27,460 compared to $37,500 in the USA

The national budget is 54.5% of GDP compared to 25.2% in the USA

The tax rate is 46.1% of GDP – compared to 28.2% in the USA

Debt is 79.7% of GDP – compared to the USA at 97% of GDP

Greece (with its new junk bond credit rating)

Greece has only a $342 billion economy

Per capita productivity is $32,100 compared $46,400 in the USA

Per capita income is $19,920 compared to $37,500 in the USA

The national budget is 42.4% of GDP compared to 25.2% in the USA

The tax rate is 33.5% of GDP – compared to 28.2% in the USA

Debt is 113.4% of GDP – compared to the USA at 97% of GDP

Are you beginning to see the picture here? In every case, the nations that have already been where Obama & Co. are leading the USA are in far worse shape than the USA. That’s why they all rejected Obama’s call for more debt spending at the G20 Summit – and that’s why they are all drawing back from past Democratic Socialist policies and are all headed into major austerity mode.

With numbers this obvious, why is Obama & Co. following old European policies of Democratic Socialism into the tank instead of leading the world towards economic sanity and free-market prosperity?

Is China the next economic superpower? Maybe… but not based upon productivity or individual prosperity. Their newfound wealth as a Communist State is largely a direct result of retaking ownership and control of Hong Kong, which has been a free-market economic powerhouse under British rule for many years. Bill Clinton’s “permanent trade status” despite continuing Communist control of the nation’s resources and ongoing human rights violations is another key factor in China’s recent economic boom.

However, China’s economy is still only 1/3 that of the USA and the people of China are some of the least productive or prosperous people on earth. Until China allows its people to become prosperous, the nation cannot begin to compete economically with the USA.

Japan

Despite a strong post-war free-market economy in Japan, they are currently saddled with a national debt that is over 192% of GDP – a national budget that is 40% of GDP and only a $5.1 trillion economy. If not for trade with the USA, Japan would already be belly up.

Who on earth should America pattern its economic policies after?

What nation on earth has an economic track record that can compete with that of the USA?

All of the G20 nations are rushing to reverse course from past Democratic Socialist spending that put labor unions in control of government spending and drove their nations into economic turmoil.

The Obama administration is the exception to this rule, as they are forcing Democratic Socialism down the throat of every American, in the name of “economic justice,” and against the will of the vast majority of American citizens.

Yet the reason for America’s past economic superiority is no secret to most Americans who violently oppose everything Obama and the District of Corruption is doing to the U.S. economy today.

That reason can be summed up in two words – “individual incentive.”

The harder and smarter free people work in a free-market economy, the more productive and prosperous they become. - The more saddled they become with government regulations and taxation, the less productive and prosperous they become.

This is not a secret to most Americans, but it is a secret to much of the world and it is a time honored fact that too many Americans now overlook.

If we want to have an open honest discussion about how to solve the world’s economic problems, we must begin with how to teach other nations to be more productive, self-sufficient and prosperous. To do that, we must expand free-market economics and reverse insane government growth and spending, not only in our own country, but around the world.

Okay… so we are now part of a world economy, fine! This means that we have an entire world to sell products, goods and services to…GREAT!

But people must be able to afford to become consumers and this means that they must be taught to be productive and prosperous via their own free-will, via free-market economics which leave individual incentives intact.

Obama should not be following world Democratic Socialist policies that have already failed all over the globe… He should be leading the world toward independent economic growth through the same free-market principles and values that made America the most powerful nation on earth.

Obama cannot raise up the world by reducing America to third world economic status in some insane notion of “economic equality.”

Look up the financial facts on any other nation on earth and tell me which country you want the USA to be more like? France? – The UK? - China? - Greece? – Canada? ---Who?

Then realize that people all over the world want to be Americans – because they already know that there is no other place on earth where the free and the brave can excel more dramatically than in the good ole USA.

Where there is no economic freedom – there is no freedom.

Don’t be sold a bill of “greater goods” by people who fail to grasp the reality that there is no greater good on earth than individual freedom, which begins with individual economic freedom.

In America, the harder and smarter you work – the more fortunate you will become. This is not true anywhere else on earth….but it should be.